The One's You Love (Cat Johnson Chronicles Book 2)

by Katerina Degratte

  Instead I give the kid a bright smile. "Sounds nice."

  A few other people show up during the few hours that the showing lasts. I could count the number of people who passed by on both hands and still have a few fingers left to spare. It’s probably a few colleagues and neighbors, all wishing to offer their condolences. Time just passes by in a silent blur. I wonder if Susan can see the others grieving her body, or if she’s in heaven, hell, reincarnated, or just nowhere. If she could see her funeral, she would likely disappointed with the lack of attendance. I don’t have strong religious beliefs myself, though I’m willing to lend a listening ear to others.

  I can almost swear that Jack fella is stealing a glance at me every so often. Does he see me as a potential threat? What all does he know? It’s a relief when he gets a call on his cellphone that drags him away from the decent sized room. It was a set up with a few chairs at the front, and a few couches near the back.

  Soon it's time to take the body to the plot. Crystal turns back towards me after whispering some stuff to her son, when he tries to complain about what he’d rather be doing. "Do you need a ride there?"

  I nod. "Can you give me a moment alone with her, though?" There are some things I need to say.

  She nods. "Did you ever manage to get in contact with her the other day?"

  "No." I shake my head. At least, not with her physical form. I can’t talk about the dream messages I got from her unless I want to sound batshit crazy.

  Crystal gives me a sympathetic smile, waiting with her impatient son at the exit.

  I lay a hand on the cat face figure on the box. "I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, Susan, but I'm sorry you had to go like this." I so desperately want to open the casket and see her face one more time. Maybe stroke her cheek and give her a kiss on the forehead goodbye. Sure, I hated her, but I didn't wish death. "I love you, and I hope you're at peace wherever you are." I wince as the image of her in hell comes back to mind at full force. The flames engulfing her body …

  Taking a quick glance around, I open the casket latch, my eyes not prepared for what they saw next. It’s empty. Not even shreds of her, a picture, a memento, or anything. Were there more people that she worked with that were going to try to Frankenstein her body, or something of that sort? No, no … I just watch too much horror and fantasy. But as I search the other side of the casket, there's still no sign of her.

  "It's a closed casket for a reason, Cat." I nearly jump out of my skin when I hear Jack repeating the words from earlier. I thought he left long ago. The lid slips out of my trembling fingers.

  "Sorry." I bow my head, embarrassed at having been caught. The dark look in his eyes was terrifying, and made me want to run.

  He adds, "You know, they say curiosity killed the cat." He dryly laughs.

  Ha, like I've never heard that one before in my life. I hold back the urge to respond with some catty snark.

  "You forgot the ending part," I chide as he gives me a curious look. "Satisfaction brought it back to life." I remember that being told to me by my grandmother many times growing up. Never losing my never-ending thirst for knowledge.

  "Somehow, I don't think an empty casket would quench that curiosity."

  "He knows where my body is," Susan says in my head, confirming my suspicions.

  What did he do to her? "What happened to her body? I heard it was bad, but I figured there would be something in there."

  "She was torn alive by a wild animal.” There's that look again. The look that screamed that he knew it was my Maori that was responsible. “It was rumored that she was working on experiments on animals, and one went rogue."

  "Get closer." Susan whispers, as it sounds like she’s leaning behind with me, with how close it sounds.

  "You know how you mentioned going out for coffee earlier?" I give him a sweet smile as he tentatively returns it. "I'll give you a call, and we can set something up to talk about old times." He knows more about Susan than he’s letting on, and I intend to find out everything. And maybe I can get something from HQ to help spill the beans a bit.

  I see Crystal walking towards us, as it’s been a hot minute since I agreed to go with her, and Jack had bad vibes. "Everything alright?" Crystal asks me, concerned, giving Jack a sneer.

  If there was no body in the casket, was it because the body was unretrievable? Or did they have other plans for it? Maybe a Frankenstein version, or just maybe I was watching too much of those vampire tv shows. It couldn't hurt to see if any crypts have been torn into, though. Head popped off like a barbie. The brain was supposedly undamaged.

  I shake it off. “Yeah I’m fine.” As fine as I could be given the circumstances.

  Chapter 10

  Maori

  Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

  Woosh. Woosh. The sound of the trees in the breeze, and the rushing waters from the river fill me ears. Almost like their on-auto repeat since I got here. It’s like one of those sound wave machines to help you sleep. Not that this place would allow a human a peaceful sleep.

  Today is going boringly slow, as my body is stretched out in the grass. I don’t have Cat to cater to my every need, so my fur irritates me without its nightly brushing. Not even Charming is around to agitate me, or even Hector. I doubt Hector would head back to this place after Tiger took some months off his life with that damned scare.

  Tiger could be such a pain. He keeps glaring at me out of the corner of his eye every so often, like he's expecting me to apologize. Like hell that's going to happen. Has he met me? I'm not the one in the wrong. He is.

  A spider hangs down, telling me, "Looks like your human is coming by again." Jeremy? I can’t be sure. They all look so similar.

  "The nice one, or the raging liar?" I ask, bored. I’m not sure whether I should even bother getting up. The sun feels so nice against my fur, and I have a full tummy from going to the river. Those were two that stopped by every now and then. Cat and Raven.

  "I wouldn't call either of them nice." This spider, in particular the size of a human head, it’d be fun to bat with my paw. "The one that comes by more often, I guess." So it has to be Cat. The king and queen of the forest don’t have any humans sneaking by them.

  "Hey, Maori." As if on cue, Cat walks towards me from around the corner, clumsily tripping over a tree branch. I can't help but shake my head in exasperation, a light smile touching my lips.

  "I guess some things don't change," I tease her.

  She puffs her cheeks out at me like a squirrel before clicking her tongue. "That's not very nice, Maori." She pulls open her purse to reveal the kitty time brush. "And here I was ready to brush your fur. It's been getting a bit mangy."

  I have the urge to suddenly use my paw to push her across the ground. Instead, I get up, stretch, and go to a lying down position. There’s no way she'll be able to get everything if I’m standing at my full twelve-foot height. "Took you long enough to bring that,” I say, and she chuckles.

  I take a look at her appearance; she's wearing a darker dress, and her eyes are all puffed up like she’s been crying. Not just crying like she’d been sobbing her eyes out.

  "What have you had on the agenda today?" I ask her.

  “Susan.” She wipes away her tears, trying to put on a cheerful smile. "It's silly to cry over her. We haven't been a real part of each other's lives in the longest time." There’s a hint of a sad smile on her face.

  "Susan?" Tigers' ears perk up at the name before he walks away to hunt his next meal or something that doesn't involve being within eye level of the nasty humans.

  Cat adds, "Her funeral was today."

  She leans her head against my body, enjoying its comfy feel. I let her lie there for a minute before reminding her, "Cat, that fur isn't going to brush itself." I use the right words to break her out of her stupor, bringing joy to her face.

  "Of course. The queen must be taken care of," she teases me, a genuine smile showing. But nonetheless, she starts stroking and brushing my fur as I enjoy the feel.
She gets tiny leaves and grass out of it. I haven't quite gotten used to my coat being a mess.

  "So tell me about your day." I can tell she's out of sorts because she hasn't asked me an annoying amount of questions. Usually, when she visits, she can be a bit more overbearing.

  Cat says, "The company fixed up the apartment,” she sighs, overwhelmed. “Not that it affected me much in the time that it was a wreck, other than having to take the younger one to work.” I’m sure that was a field day and a half. “Colin is going to be moving in." That's sudden. Poor Cat. He’s a year younger than her but a good kid. I appreciated him much more when he stopped picking me up like I was Simba, while signing about how it was the circle of life.

  "Sorry, Cat." I brush my nose under her ear, and she giggles from the sensation.

  She shrugs, finding a spot behind my ear to brush. "I have the extra room that's currently being used as an office. I could fix that up. It’s not like there are any roommates to kick out. Just thought it wouldn't happen before I turned thirty.” She would have hoped to have a bigger place by then. Colin could be a bit of a hoarder if it wasn’t kept well under control.

  If I was thirty years old in human years, I would be so fucking ancient. I would be like the cat of cats. I was between five and six in human years, so I would be around thirty-six to forty currently. I guess the age explains my lack of excitement towards life, and maybe bringing Charming in was me dealing with a midlife crisis.

  "How was the funeral?" I ask. Not that I care for Susan, but maybe there’s intel? With how puffy Cat’s eyes are, she took it hard. She always was an emotional human.

  "It was something." Her face is expressionless. "There weren't many people there, but that’s not surprising." Susan kind of was a mega-bitch. "There was this one guy there that gave me the heebie-jeebies. I think his name was Jack?" She grimaces, not sure if that was it. Cat was very bad with names.

  "Go away, Jack!" Rushes back through my mind at that. Would he be that stupid to reveal his actual name if it was the same, Jack? No, it couldn't be the same Jack. The fact that I talked wasn't exactly a well-kept secret.

  "He gave me all those bad jitters," she repeats at my lack of response. My eyes zoom in on hers, wondering how the name couldn't click from my dream, the name that I was calling out to her last time she disturbed my sleep. Well, she could be kind of clueless. "I'm supposed to be going to coffee with him in the next few days so I can see out if I can find anything useful."

  So he can poison her drink and get rid of another pesky problem?

  I'm leaning against the cave wall and enjoying the coolness it brings as she brushes my lower side. She better not forget the paws. Tiger is nowhere to be found since a human is here and he didn't trust them. Not all of them are like Susan, though.

  "Jack was the name of the person working with Susan,” I explain. Cat’s eyes widen, her mouth agape as I release that information. My tone sounds as if I’m talking about the weather and not a psychopathic killer. Cats should always be the one to tell bad news, they could go about it calmly…nah I wouldn’t want someone other than Cat crying on my shoulder.

  "Shit." That is all she says in her inner turmoil of beating herself up. "Maybe it's not the same, Jack. Though, he could have very well been with the creeps he was giving me. I must have been distracted with everything going on." She bows her head, apologizing. Always the one to over apologize.

  I am once again feeling bad for Cat. Her trying her darndest to take care of everything. Be the problem solver, the caregiver. Savior.

  I shake it off. "It's fine. I ran into Hector today. He said that the animal mutations weren't at an end even with Susan dead." I know going to die from a heart attack from that shocking intel.

  Cat raises an eyebrow but otherwise doesn't seem shocked by that information. If anything, she's nodding as if it's confirming what she knows. "Weird thing is when I looked into her casket, the body was missing. Jack looked at me like he knew what happened to her. You would think with her old work with all those full-blown scientists, that they could have found a way to bring her body back again. And that’s worrisome." Frankenstein much? “Jack did a horrible job with covering up, saying that it was a flower shop.”

  Gross. Some flowers were nice to chew on, but others could be deadly to cats. In one of Cat’s old places there was plants toxic to cats planted, with all the outdoor cats around. She obviously didn’t plant it, but humans are ruthless.

  "You managed to get away with sneaking a look into a closed casket?" Maybe some of my stealth is rubbing off on Cat, about damned time.

  "No." She shakes her head, making me realize the proud feeling came on much too fast. "Jack confronted me as soon as I got a peek. It was super weird because I thought he’d already left." Ah Cat, never caring for what would be seen as the social norm, which is one of the reasons why she’s so fun.

  I suggest, "Try to get an honesty potion or something from HQ, or have a backup.” I put my head on her shoulder. I should have taken him out as well, or instead of Susan. As long as he was standing tall, Cat would have enemies afoot. “I don't want you to be Jack's next victim." The weight of the possibility filling me with dread.

  "Maori?" I hear a voice from behind us and see Colin walking towards us looking dazed and confused about being here. A discarded spider web is on his shirt and some weird black oily stuff is on his face. Is that venom? Who tried to attack one of my humans? I’d kill the fuckers.

  Cat and he look so much alike they could be twins. The only difference is that he’s a bit taller and doesn’t dye his hair.

  I shoot Cat a glare, as this isn’t a place that she should just tell everybody about. It's not that I don’t trust Colin. He just shouldn't be here. This isn’t a place for humans. Cat being here is pushing things as it is. He could get hurt.

  "I thought you were watching Charming." Cat's voice goes up an octave, showing how stressed and pissed off she is to see him here. She’s not the only party upset.

  He nods. "But then you were gone for a while, and I got worried." That still doesn’t explain how he found this place. Had Brian or some other idiot from HQ given him directions to this place? "She showed me where it was." As if on cue, Raven is walking down the trail. Raven having a more challenging time than him, with her fashionable yet impractical for the woods heeled boots.

  Cat looks shocked to see her as Colin sprints directly towards me. "This is like a damned video game. How did you get so big?" He looks up at me in amazement. An annoying damned finger leering a bit too closely to my face. If he wasn’t Cat’s brother he’d lose that finger. I still offer a warning nip in the air, to get him to back up a bit. After all a queen needed her personal space.

  What all did Raven spill to Colin?

  Chapter 11

  Cat

  Colin tentatively walks up to Maori again, offering her his hand this time. She sniffs this time, finally accepting it. Instead of pointing at her like she was a freak to be gawked at. Even in her bigger form you still had to be gentle with her highness.

  Colin’s light blue eyes filled with amazement, probably wondering what other things could be possible that were on the down low. No doubt wanting to see some of his fiction characters in reality. “You told me she ran off!” Colin accuses, giving me a harsh look as he continues to pet Maori’s fur. Her purrs louder then they’ve ever been. Loud enough to put the forest to sleep with their lullaby.

  Raven seeing the expression on my face goes into a slight panic, “Shit, was I not supposed to lead him here?” Like she knew she did the wrong thing, which she clearly did. The human forsaken woods weren’t the ideal party stop. No answers to my text messages or phone calls, and then she takes my special needs brother to this danger zone! What the fucking hell? I’m about to yell at her, but she looks like she already knows she fucked up. I don’t need to rub it in deeper, I wasn’t my ex-stepmother by any means.

  My brain feels like it’s ready to implode with all the revelations I came across toda
y. Colin moving in, Susan’s body missing, Colin being introduced to the wooded area that isn’t safe for humans. Can’t I catch a fucking break? What was next, serenading pandas? No that was stupid, they wouldn’t have a food source here, but still.

  “When were you planning on telling me this?” Colin’s voice echoes through the forest walls, betrayal is evident in his grey-blue eyes. Probably providing some entertainment for the locals.

  “Great, another human who can hunt us down and kill us. That’s just great, Maori,” Tiger decides to interject with his snarky remarks, giving my beloved the side-eye. Ever since what happened with Susan, he hasn’t been able to trust the humans.

  Colin not understanding what Tiger’s saying, as he tilts his side to the head to study him. Wanting to pet him as well, but Tiger growls when his hand is offered to him. “How many of them are there?” Another accusatory glare melting the walls of my brain.

  “Everyone, would you please just shut the hell up!” My voice echoes in the woods so loud that I could swear the birds stop chirping for a second. I feel ready to break down, but I can’t do that here in front of everyone. I have to be strong. How do I even begin to explain my part-time career to Colin? It pondered through my head a few times today with the soon-to-be living arrangements, but I didn’t even know how to start. I knew I had to tread that water more carefully and not have it go anything like this.

  I take a deep breath in and out a couple of times to soothe my heartbeat. “Colin,” I begin, giving him my full attention as I explain, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I work with a secret society that tracks hard-to-find cases. My ex, Susan, if you remember her … well, she was experimenting on animals.” Would he believe that, or just think I lost the rest of my marbles?

  “Was?” He questions, his face screwed up as if it had a weird taste. “Why did she stop?” Just the tip of his questions, as his eyes look like they’re about to spin out. “Sorry I need to sit down.” He grabs a slight hold on Maori’s leg as to not fall, as he settles. Her guiding him through the motions.